Jai's first trip on public transport

This weekend I went to visit my friend, and the instigator of this trip, Nathalie. She and her family live in a close suburb of Paris called St. Cloud. On Saturday, Jai and I hopped on the metro and then onto the local train. Jai did great! and although dogs are technically not permitted on the metro - no one said a word to us. I love that I really don't need a car here even with Jai, and that public transport is available at such cheap prices. A metro ticket is about a euro and you can ride the metro anywhere in zones 1-3 in Paris. The train ticket out to St. Cloud - about 20 minutes away was 3 euros. Can you imagine being able to travel from Columbia to Baltimore or to DC for about $3?

Once we arrived at Nathalie's Jai was welcomed into the family like he had been there forever. He loved playing with Nathalie's daughter, Annabelle, in the garden (finally, grass!) and she loved dressing him up (and yes, I unfortunately left my camera at home) - in sunglasses, a purse and scarf. He looked laughingly adorable and put up with it all with ease. I'm really lucky with him.

Nathalie had invited a friend of hers over to watch the football match - it was US v. England. Her friend, Dianne (pronounced dee - anne) was making crepes when we arrived - and they were delish. Dianne and Nathalie are both expatriates - Nathalie has now lived in and around Paris for about 20 years and Dianne for 4. and they will forever be expats. Paris is an interesting place for foreigners - it doesn't necessarily welcome you with open arms but I think you either come to love it or hate it for its majesty even while recognizing the imperfections in what is considered a socialist society.

That being said, I have been reading a lot of books by expats who have moved to Paris - The Sweet Life in Paris, C'est La Vie, and the Merde series by Stephen Clarke. They all have similar themes and stories about the difficulties of life in Paris - opening a bank account, difficulties returning items, everyone striking at the same time, how to get a visa renewed and anything to do with customer service. Lest you think these are just tales in books - both Nathalie and Dianne - repeated similar stories to me.

So, moving to Paris and living here isn't easy. But it seems to not deter so many people from coming - even for a few years - as I learned the next day.

On Sunday, Dianne had invited me to a book swap/picnic which she had learned about on "Meet Up." For those of you who know Meet Up in the US, there is also a Meet Up Paris. Meet Up is an online site where people can create groups to meet up and do certain activities together. People then join the group and RSVP for an activity. There are tons of expat communities online and meet up groups so that people can get together. It seems to be a nice way to be able to spend some time with english speakers so you can either take some time from heavily concentrating whenever someone is talking to you or practice your english. I met some great people and picnicked in yet another awesome park in Paris. All in all a wonderful weekend.